Threaded View

They don't have an immigrant culture as we do in the US. I was watching pairs with a Polish friend and when S&S were introduced as a German team, he remarked that they were not Germans.

He absolutely is German. The man's mother was German, so he has half German blood anyways. And didn't even know his African father. Besides in Germany, I believe they do have some immigration. My brother was in military service in Germany and dated a girl there who was original from Africa but is now a German citizen. One of the reasons it didn't work out was because she didn't want to live in America, she'd miss Germany too much. But yes in European countries there is more of a homogenous type of thing. In Russia though there really are all kinds of ethnic groups anyways, but I think some of the issues with this particular team is the fact that Yuka wasn't trained in the Russian/Soviet system for most of her career. I.e that she's essentially an inport. I mean it would be one thing if Aliona who was from the Ukraine (and was essentially it seemed trained by Soviet coaches when she was younger, I believe) to be skating for Russia. But for a country with the greatest pairs skating legacy to have to import skaters its a whole different feeling (hurt pride). It would be one thing if it was a sport they didn't have this great tradition in. But for it to be pairs skating, its a whole different feeling.

I also think that K/S really didn't fit the classical Russian style in personality, and instead of working to find a style that suited her team, Moskvina tried to make them something they weren't.